Sergio Garcia took advantage of perfect early conditions to shoot a brilliant nine under par 64 in the opening round of the Greg Norman Holden International in Sydney today.
The 21-year-old Spaniard, seeking his first victory for 16 months, hardly put a foot wrong on a morning of spectacular scoring at The Lakes.
Shaking off the effects of jet lag - he arrived from Pebble Beach only on Tuesday morning - Garcia grabbed no fewer than nine birdies in the glorious sunshine.
What he described as "a great round" was good enough only for a one-stroke lead, however, as European Order of Merit leader Pierre Fulke birdied three of his last four holes for a 65.
And the chasing pack were not far back either. Tournament host Norman, who celebrates his 46th birthday on Saturday, came in with a 66, as did Welshman Phillip Price, Londoner Daren Lee and New Zealander Steve Alker.
But Nick Faldo could not get in on the fun. As the wind picked up after lunch Faldo slumped 12 behind after putting two balls in water and running up a quadruple bogey nine on the long 17th.
Irish contenders Ronan Rafferty and David Higgins shot disappointing rounds of 75 and 78 respectively.
Garcia had two rounds of 62 within three months of turning professional in 1999 - one in Texas and the other at Loch Lomond. But they were par 70 and 71 courses respectively, so today's effort equals the most he has been below par in one round.
"After a couple of good nights' sleep I felt great," he said. "I started hitting the ball really good and made some nice early birdies. It kept me going for the whole round."
The score, one outside the course record set by Adam Scott playing as an amateur last year, could easily have been lower. Garcia needed only a seven-iron for his second shot to the dogleg 534-yard 14th - his fifth - but had to settle for par after hitting it into sand.
It stopped him making it four birdies in a row, but a 15-foot putt on the next green got him moving forward again and in addition to making more birdies on the next three par fives he holed from 20 feet at the 384-yard fifth and pitched to three feet on the 341-yard sixth.
Garcia decided to play the event only three months ago. He is also playing next week's Australian Masters in Melbourne, but this week's tournament had the added attraction of carrying Ryder Cup points.
Playing as much as he does in America, he knows he will be appearing in only a limited amount of cup-counting events and wants to make them all count. Captain Sam Torrance would be delighted if he does.
Fulke is already in the side after winning the Volvo Masters last November and finishing runner-up in the world match play championship in Melbourne a month ago.
The Swede's thoughts are now starting to turn to his rapidly-approaching Players' Championship and US Masters debuts and with them in mind he made an important switch today.
Instead of continuing with the driver banned in America because of the spring-like effect of its clubface he put a conforming one in his bag - and was delighted with the results.
"I tried four and found one I'm quite content with," he said. "It makes only five or six metres difference - hardly anything - and I hit it straight as usual."
He also had nine birdies, but a bogey on the 459-yard third cost him a share of the lead.
Price, for whom victory here and a good performance next time out at the Dubai Desert Classic could earn him an invitation to the Masters, was bogey-free and almost holed-in-one at the 156-yard seventh.
The biggest problem he encountered, in fact, was while he was on the 10th green. Balls arrived from the nearby driving range and one hit his caddie on the shoulder.
Harlow-based Lee narrowly avoided a return to the qualifying school last season, finishing 115th on the Order of Merit, and seven under represented his best round of a tour career which has never seen him finish higher than fifth.
Norman is seeking his first solo win since the same event three years ago and four birdies in five holes around the turn provided the spark for him to get into contention.
"The course was there to be had - the greens were soft, not overly-fast, the pins were gettable and there was hardly any wind for us," he said.
It is only five months since 46-year-old Eduardo Romero won a tour title and Norman still believes he can challenge not just here, but also at the Masters.
"I think you will see nowadays that golfers are fitter," he said. "It depends how strong your mind and how fit you've got your body."
Double Australian Open champion Aaron Baddeley, at 19 the youngest player in the field, did best of the afternoon starters, tucking in just behind the leaders on six under despite taking six at the 14th.
PA